Submitting PBI Requests

How to do so has been a common topic on the #pcbsd Freenode IRC channel. We’ve  provided two ways for doing so and updated the Handbook as follows:

Submit PBI Requests

Want to request a specific application to be made available in PBI format? This is an excellent way to let PBI developers know which applications are most useful to PC-BSD users. Before requesting a PBI, please do the following:

• check in Software Manager to see if a PBI already exists. If one does but you want to request a more recent version, please say so in your request.
• search at Freshports to see if there is an existing FreeBSD package as it is much easier and quicker to make a PBI from an existing package. If a package does not already exist, please say so in your request.
• check to see if a request has already been made in the PBI Requests Forum or PBI-dev Mailing list.

You can make your request one of two ways:

• start a new thread in the PBI Requests Forum
• send an email to PBI-dev Mailing list

Whatever method you choose, please include the name of the PBI you are requesting in the thread name or email subject line. This way it is easy for PBI developers and other PC-BSD users to know which applications have already been requested.

Once a PBI developer has made a new PBI, the request will be removed from the PBI Requests Forum. Please note that it takes anywhere from 2-7 days for a new PBI to show up in Software Manager as it needs to be built and tested to make sure everything works.

If you wish to help test the resulting PBI before it has been approved, you may do so at the sites below:

• PC-BSD 7.x – i386
• PC-BSD 7.x – amd64
• PC-BSD 8.x – i386
• PC-BSD 8.x – amd64
• PC-BSD 9.x – i386
• PC-BSD 9.x – amd64

If you wish to be notified whenever a new PBI is added or an existing one is upgraded to a newer version, subscribe to the Latest PBI RSS feed.